This week, justArts&Culture spoke with Rachel Greene ’20 and Zach Garrity ’20, who were two of the three directors of the annual 24 Hour Musical.

 

JustArts&Culture: Tell me a bit about your role in the play.


Rachel Greene: I am Rachel. I was one of the directors of the 24-hour Musical. There were three of us. 


Zach Garrity: I am Zach. I was a director too. And there’s a third director, Rose. The three of us did it together. 


JAC:  How was “Legally Blonde” picked as the show for this year?


RG:  I don’t wanna give away too much because a lot of the 24 Hours is about the mystery. But yep, everyone who’s on the main production staff can propose shows. And then we all get in a room and weigh the pros and cons. And then we fight over them, pick one and apply for the rights. 


JAC: What was it like to direct a large group of people who don’t necessarily have backgrounds in theater?


RG: It’s all about like just making it fun. I have been in lots of shows and worked on lots of show that’s all about making the best products. While we’ve all worked so hard for 24- hours to make it the best product that can possibly be, we went into it with the mindset of like this is supposed to be fun and showing people, especially first years, but everyone who chooses to be involved, that theater can be really fun. On top of that we have amazing people who come in and are incredible and do like so well and only elevates it.  There’s no bad in 24 -hours. 


ZG: Going off of what you said, there are different levels of how you want to do theater. Because of the nature of putting on a performance, a lot of performances can put a lot of stress on “you have to do it well.”  For 24- hours, there is none of that stress. It’s all just the playing around. I can be like someone else. I can do whatever character I want to be. 


JAC: If you can give one advice to next year’s directors, what would it be?


RG: Something I would pass on to whoever directs it next year would be focus on the process and not the product.  And it’s not just the scene rehearsal, but also the time between it. Making sure that’s all the first years are drinking water and going to the bathroom, having a good time and getting the sleep that they need.  


JAC: Is there anything you want to add? 


RG:  I would say come do theater! There’s a ton of theater that happens at Brandeis and we always want more people to do it. So come do a show! 


ZG: Even if you haven’t done the 24-hour, I think it’s a great experience, even if you just come to audition. Because I know for my fact, I started doing theatre when I was a junior in high school because I was afraid of being in front of people. Having that positive reinforcement to keep being in front of people is a good growing experience. Come to the math department. Come to evening helps. We do calculus and it’s fun. 

Shout out to Haia. Haia works so hard all the time. If we can clone Haia, and have six of her, we can rule the world in six nights.


 —  Luke Liu